Flyers 5 takeaways: Can loss to Lightning be just a hiccup?

Tampa Bay Lightning's Vladislav Namestnikov, second from right, celebrates his goal with Jake Dotchin, right, and Anton Stralman during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2018, in Philadelphia. The Lightning won 5-1. (AP Photo/Derik Hamilton)(Photo: Derik Hamilton, AP)

PHILADELPHIA — If you believe in patterns repeating, the Flyers are destined to win four straight coming out of the All-Star break.

They lost 5-1 to Pittsburgh and won four in a row. Lost 5-1 to the New York Rangers and, yup, four more wins.

Thursday night they lost 5-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning and there’s reason to believe that if they don’t win four straight, it can at least be just a blip on the radar.

“I don’t think the score of the game really reflects how we played,” Sean Couturier said. “I thought we had some good chances. Goalie made some big saves. We outshot them 37 to I don’t know what.”

Twenty-two shots came from the Lightning, only three in the first period where the Flyers looked particularly sharp. Three goals in the second period set the tone for the highest-scoring team in the NHL to put away the Flyers for a night.

Even when the Flyers finally broke through — Travis Konecny scored in the third period to extend his scoring streak to four games and break up a shutout bid — the Lightning struck right back less than a minute later.

“Can’t play 20 minutes and win the game, can’t play 40 minutes and win the game,” Wayne Simmonds said. “That middle stanza, we left guys unchecked. We didn’t check hard enough and they get three goals there. Obviously, that’s the difference in the game. They get those three goals. Momentum is a funny thing, once you get it…they kept going with it.”

A loss doesn’t sit well with anybody, especially with extra time to dwell on it. The Flyers don’t play until next Wednesday, after the All-Star break this weekend.

They have done a good job, especially since the start of 2018, of letting one loss be merely a speed bump as they’ve gotten themselves back into playoff contention.

“I think once we get this out of our systems, we’ll bounce back a little bit better,” Konecny said. “I think that’s what we can take out of this.”

Here are four more takeaways from the last game before All-Star weekend…

Awful second period

For as well as the Flyers played in the first period, outshooting Tampa 9-3, the Lightning adjusted and showed why it is the best team in the East. They had a two-man forecheck that took the Flyers by surprise and when a play required moving up the ice from the defensive zone, the Flyers were picked apart by stretch passes.

“We just didn’t handle it. They did a good job,” Simmonds said. “They adjusted and we didn’t handle it. We have our systems in place, but we just didn’t do a good job.”

When the Flyers tried those plays, they resulted in turnovers. Three goals were scored on 10 shots and none were bad shots that Michal Neuvirth should have stopped, although somewhere along the line an extra save might’ve helped turn the tide around.

Brayden Point beat him 5-hole early in the second, right after the Flyers had killed a power play. Yanni Gourde scored on a back-door play when defensemen Brandon Manning and Radko Gudas were caught on the same side of the ice. Ryan Callahan had a tremendous play shorthanded to pick off a pass and undress Shayne Gostisbehere and deke around Neuvirth’s left leg.

“I think we changed our mindset a little bit,” Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman said. “First period wasn’t good enough. You know, we knew we had better in us and we brought it the second period and that obviously kept us in there (after) the first period and we made some good plays.”

Break at a good time

Sure, the Flyers had won four in a row heading into Thursday night so on the surface it looked like they might want to keep playing.

But the momentum really wasn’t in their favor.

Sunday they barely survived against a Washington Capitals team and won in overtime and the same thing happened Tuesday night in Detroit. The first period against the Red Wings was anything but their game plan and they held on until overtime after Detroit missed two prime opportunities and for the second straight game it was Konecny to the rescue in extra time.

Thursday was the Flyers’ fifth game in eight days.

“We’ve played a lot of hockey, a lot of good hockey,” Simmonds said. “I think the last two games we weren’t at our best. Obviously we got that win in Detroit and then we lose (Thursday). Hopefully this is a little bit of a wake-up call for the boys. We get this rest here and we’ve got to come back and we gotta make sure we’re ready to come back for the first game.”

Vasilevskiy the Vezina favorite

In the final period the Flyers poured everything they had at the Tampa net. Seventeen shots in that third was one off the mark for the most in one period all season.

Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped all but one.

“He’s big,” said Couturier, the Flyers’ leading goal scorer. “Even the pucks he doesn’t see, he uses his body pretty well to still find a way to stop it. He seems to be athletic. Yeah, he’s a good goalie.”

Friday the Professional Hockey Writers Association will release the results of midseason awards ballots both from the members and from fans who participated in an online vote. It’s expected that Vasilevskiy will win the Vezina Trophy, for the league’s best goaltender, in a landslide.

“Vasy, he’s unbelievable every game,” said Vladislav Namestnikov, who had a pair of third-period goals for the Lightning. “He was solid back there again, he’s a big reason we won again.”

Numbers game

• Nolan Patrick has said his biggest adjustment to the NHL was faceoffs and he got taken to school Thursday night, winning only three of 11. He was good against Namestnikov, winning two of three, but lost all five he took against Matthew Peca and both against Cedric Paquette.

• The Flyers had won all of Tyrell Goulbourne’s first seven NHL games. Thursday night he played 5:47 of ice time and registered one shot and one hit in his first loss.

• For a trip down Interstate-476 and back, Alex Lyon’s pockets are a bit deeper. A day in the NHL netted him more than $4,000 more than a day with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms would. He was recalled thanks to a “lower-body injury” to Brian Elliott. It’s not expected to be something that spills into plans once the Flyers resume after the All-Star break and didn’t change the Flyers’ plans. It was Neuvirth’s start all along.